The Whitmore Canoe Curiosity

A few years ago, the Toledo History Museum acquired a canoe. Not just any canoe, but a very old dugout canoe that is presumably of Native American origin. But to date, that simple fact has not yet been confirmed, nor do we know its age, or if it was hewn from a tree and shaped by Native Americans. If so, who were they and to what tribe did they belong? These are the essential questions that remain unanswered.

However, what we do know is enough to trace its origins to one of Toledo’s first pioneer families, and if the family stories are true, then this humble canoe may well be the oldest human-made watercraft in Northwest Ohio and a significant artifact in the broader history of the Great Lakes region.

The canoe is 17 feet long and appears to be very old and hewn from a single tree trunk. It found its way to the History Museum from the Toledo Zoo where it had been since the mid 1960’s. It was given to the zoo by a Ron Goodyear of East Toledo, a direct descendant of the Luther Whitmore family. Goodyear had told the Toledo Zoo, upon giving it to them for display, that the canoe had been given to Luther Whitmore as a gift from area Indians who considered the Whitmores to be friends. The time frame for this would have been around 1830, as the Whitmores had emigrated to the eastern side of the Maumee River from Connecticut sometime in the late 1820’s. They and other families, such as the Prentices, the Cranes, the Gardner’s and Fassett’s primarily found hospitable land for farming along the east bank of the river near what is now Fassett Street, southward to the area near the current casino or I-75 Disalle bridge.

The native tribes of Chippewa, Ottawa and Wyandot, were also active in the area and friendly to these early white settlers. They had numerous interactions, and many of the younger pioneer men became conversant in their languages in order to establish trade. It was written in Whitmore family lore that Luther Whitmore purchased the dugout canoe from the native Indians and later passed the canoe to his son Luther Junior. Another version of the story says that Luther Whitmore Jr. had become a a government agent and was responsible for distributing the regular annuities to the local tribes which they acquired in the various treaties that had been signed. Thus he became well known among the local tribes and he was given the canoe as a gift.

The first written mention of the canoe we have found thus far in our research was from two article from 1937, that appeared in Toledo Blade and Toledo Times. Both were penned by George Pearson, the long time Blade writer for East Toledo. In this article, he interviews, Herbert L. Whitmore who was still living along the east side of the River in the 1100 block of Miami Street, not far from the original Whitmore homestead. His father was Elijah Whitmore, who was the son of Luther Junior. Pearson writes that the Whitmore home is filled with many artifacts and relics from the early days of area’s settlement, including those of French origin(from the first French explorers) to native American axes, and arrow heads, and of course, the prized dugout canoe.

It is noted in the article that the canoe was painted red. No mention given as to who might have painted it. Was that done by the Indians, or later by someone in the Whitmore family?

Fast Forward to 2023, and one can clearly see traces of red embedded in the deep grains of the wood, and curiously, on the bow of the canoe, is the word “Wagush” painted in red paint of some type. As the Zoo was told by family members in the 1960’s, the word “Wagush” meant “friend” in the Wyandot language and the Native Americans emblazoned it with the word for their friendship with Luther Whitmore. A quick check of the Wyandot language dictionary, however shows no such word in that language, but instead Wagush is a Chippewa or Ojibwe word , meaning “fox”.

So the mystery of the word “Wagush” remained unresolved. As does its actual age and origin. If this is indeed a true artifact hand hewn by the last generation of Native Americans in Lucas County, it would seem to the logic of untrained observer of the past to be of some important historic value to the area.

What do we need to discover its real story. Well, money is always a first start as the funding could get us the carbon 14 dating that needs to be done, along with a scientifically valid study of the structure itself and how it was made. From this, perhaps more information leading to the identity of those who created this canoe and when. My hope is that someday soon we can put together the resources to do the research needed to answer the many curiosities of the Whitmore Canoe.

The Toledo History Museum invites your input and comments.

The Great Stone Face of Toledo

Photo of Great Stone Face taken at Dixon Inn in Toledo circa 1920

Okay, here’s a mystery that needs an answer. Or maybe a couple. It seems that back in the 1800’s when Toledo city workers were doing some excavating along Monroe Street in the downtown area, they came across  an ancient stone carving. It was the carving of face and it appeared to those who saw it to be the face of an early Native American, or a person with “thick lips and round face”who was deemed to be one of the “ancient” pre-historic people, known as mound builders.

This little gem has come my way from a book given to me by a friend who found the 1922 book it in a garage sale near Dayton.  The book is entitled “Memories” by Dr. Cyrus Noble of Toledo who practiced medicine in the early part of the 20th century in Toledo and Wood County.

Dr. Cyrus Noble

Dr. Noble was also a poet and observer of life in the area and his poems reflect on a number of local stories that piqued his curiosity and interest.  In “Memories” he writes fondly of the famed “Indian Elm” in Maumee.  A giant among trees where Indians reportedly perched to take aim at soldiers across the Maumee River at Ft. Meigs.  Dr. Noble also waxes lyrically about a variety of topics, but the one that snared my curiosity was the story of the “Great Stone Face”. There wasn’t much of a narrative about it, but there was a photo of it, presumably where it was exhibited for years inside of the now-forgotten Dixon Inn in Toledo’s old Tenderloin District.   The Dixon Inn had been a brothel at one time, amid the clutter of  the “sin zone” but after the Tenderloin was closed down in 1918, the Dixon Inn stayed open as a hotel, inn and boarding house, and more importantly – a very strange museum.  I have written about the Dixon Inn before in the Gazette, and its odd collection of bizarre artifacts, from shrunken heads to ancient battle weapons. But the “Great Stone Face” is the stand out among the collection, for if it is truly an artifact of ancient heritage, it conjures a list of questions, the first being how it came rest 20 feet below the surface of earth in the area of downtown Toledo?  One might wonder what else is still down there to be discovered?  If there are any folks who can offer some educated speculation as to the origin of this “face” or any other information about it,  please share them with us.  My search efforts to excavate more about information regarding the “face” have turned up nothing specific, but other stories regarding carvings found in other areas of the country.

In fact, the discovery of human effigy artifacts from the “mounds” in Ohio and other Midwest sites in Illinois and the Mississippi Valley are well established, but Toledo was not known for an abundance of such mound building activity, although, there were, as I have read, some small “mounds” discovered in the downtown area near the river upon arrival of the first pioneers to the area. So how did this carving get to Toledo. It was offered by some that it could have been transported here centuries ago from another area and left with those ancients living on the Maumee River.

When looking at the photo of this particular “stone face” at the Dixon Inn, it does not resemble the others I have seen, but looks more “finished” or finely sculpted. Thus, some shades of skepticism darken my door of belief. What do you think?  Where would it have come from? How did it get to Toledo, and what ever happened to it?  I have found from a newspaper reference that it was part of the Dixon collection that was auctioned at the Dixon Inn around 1925 after the owner died.

The Great Stone Face of Toledo seems to have disappeared in the past century, leaving me to wonder whether the carving was really the product of someone perpetrating a hoax and merely had been the handiwork of a con artist or someone with a sense of history and humor.  That is certainly possible and let’s face it, the Dixon Inn was not exactly the Smithsonian.  Despite the questions and the doubts, Dr. Noble seemed convinced of its historic gravity and message  when he penned his poem in 1920, about Toledo’s Great Stone Face.

If the veil of mystery,

were rent so I could see,

I could talk to the Great Stone Face,

and it could talk to me.

To tell me of the ages past,

of all the great unknown–

and about the Master Hand

that made it in the stone,

And of the mighty ruler,

in whose image it was made,

How it t’was worshiped as a god,

through many a decade.

How before some temple door,

t’was strewn with flowers and kisses

It saw the strife of human life,

And heard its howls and Hisses;

Then watched earth drink up the blood,

of men of might and brains

It saw the traitors slay their kings

To grasp the ruler’s reins

 

For centuries this face held sway,

above some sacred mound,

until a conquering army came,

and dragged it to the ground.

Its friends, by night, had stole away

And brought it over land,

with stealth and pride,

they buried it beneath the Maumee’s sand.

Then all the history of its past

Was plunged into the dark,

No doubt t’was safely hidden there

when Noah built his ark.

 

A modern city rose Above its resting place;

Men who delved into the ground

Came to this wondrous face.

They brought it once more to light,

where the curious could gaze,

and ponder over its handiwork of men of other days.

Perhaps a thousand years from now,

when this fair city’s gone,

Art and Science once more lost,

as time keeps marching on,

and as other cities rise again,

this stone face will be found,

To prove that the greatest of all men

Now sleep beneath the ground.